It Is Time
by Kaitolighto
Summary: So, you thought Tai and the others had had their last adventure? Think again. The Original DigiDestined has been called to bring down their old enemies. Except this time, luck is not so much on their sides. They will face trials and tribulations, the likes of which they would never have foreseen. Prepare yourself for the next step in Digivolution!
1. Chapter 1

The time is coming.

~\*/~

"Cheers!" the eight original DigiDestined clinked their glasses together. It was the first time for over a year that they could do this. Matt's band had been on tour, Mimi still lived in New York, Izzy and Joe were so smart every college in the country and beyond had them working like Dobermon and everyone else had their thing. Still, they relished the time they could still share.

Right now they were in Tai and Matt's new apartment. They had both gone to the same university, Tai was studying politics and Matt was studying Advanced Physics, so they decided to just live together.

They all took a sip of their drinks and laughed. All night they had been catching up and reminiscing. Although Kari and T.K. couldn't legally drink, it was mutual decision to let them have a little.

"Ugh! Izzy!" Tai yelled "when are you gonna get the Digimon out here again? Agumon must taste beer!"

"Absolutely!" Mimi chimed "I simply must introduce Palmon to all the gourmet restaurants in New York. Where I live you can't turn a corner without seeing a new one."

Izzy tried to explain the severity of the task's difficulty, but nobody had the attention span, sobriety or general intelligence to fall what he was saying. So, they just told him to drink until he didn't know what a ROM was.

The night went on and the drinks flowed. Nobody was drunk, they were reasonable. Even T.K. and Kari managed to hold their liquid, despite their age. Everyone was just drunk enough for nothing to upset them.

"I wonder what they're all doing right now?" T.K. asked.

"Well, it is Digi-time," Matt pointed out "in the time you even asked that question it's probably been hours."

A few nodded in agreement. The room was filled with a comfortable silence as everyone remembered their partners. The memories of their past adventures flowing their minds.

Then, one by one, the crests, always tied around their necks, began to glow.

Courage.

Love.

Knowledge.

Friendship.

Sincerity.

Reliability.

Hope.

Light.

Then, they all heard a familiar voice.

We Begin Now.

"Gennai!" they all called.

They looked at each other.

"Did you guys here him too?" Tai asked.

"Yeah, but where was it coming from?" Matt continued.

Izzy quickly gasped and then dove into his bag. He returned moments later with his laptop. Not the old yellow Pineapple laptop, Izzy had since updated. This one was their latest upgrade. Pineapple Unfold.

Izzy pulled open the green and silver lid and typed in his password.

"Gennai?" Izzy called "Gennai? Are you there?"

A minimized page then took up the whole screen and showed the 8-pixel Gennai and all the Digimon. Agumon, Biyomon, Tentomon, Gabumon, Palmon, Gomamon, Patamon and Gatomon.

Everyone had crowded around Izzy's laptop and was smiling, waving and saying hi to Gennai and their Digimon.

"Yes, yes. It's good to see you too," Gennai said "Izzy, I've had some trouble reaching you. You've changed your computer I assume."

"Yes, I'm sorry," Izzy said "I had hoped to have been able to open up a new portal before too long. It hasn't been going well."

"Well, as much as I'm sorry to hear that, we've got bigger troubles," Gennai announced "the Digital World is in danger."

"Hm?" Izzy said "I don't understand. It's been years since we've been called. After us, the Digital World always called on a new generation of DigiDestined. Why do you need us?"

"The Dark Masters have returned," Gennai answered. The room was filled with shock.

"Yes and they're stronger than ever!" Gennai continued "not only are the Dark Masters your enemies, but I'm afraid that a new generation hasn't been called yet. I have to assume that this means you must return, otherwise by the time they're ready we'd be too far gone. We cherish potential and new recruits are valued, but we need veterans. We need the Original DigiDestined!"

Everyone waited for someone to say something. In the end it was Tai.

"So, you need us back in the Digital World to deal with these guys?" he asked. Gennai nodded. "Well, I'm in."

Everyone looked at Tai in surprise, but then they all smiled. Who else but Tai the Courageous to step up first?

"Well, you can't go alone, roomie," Matt said.

"Well, you can forget about going just the two of you," Sora smiled.

"You're all strong, but you'll need some smarts too," Izzy said "so let's do it."

"Don't forget me! I can't wait to see Palmon again," Mimi chirped.

"I suppose medical school can wait," Joe sighed before smiling "besides who else could carry the Emergency Bag like I did."

"Well, we're not being left behind!" T.K. and Kari joined in.

"Excellent!" Gennai smiled "Izzy. Help me open a portal on this computer. It'll be best if you can access the exit when and if you need it, so I suggest you keep this on charge for when you leave."

Izzy nodded and they began conversing, as well as typing furiously.

The others had taken it upon themselves to prepare. Of course, they all had their crests and Digivices and food had never actually been an issue, but Joe was convinced they'd need another medical bag. Matt and Tai got food and Mimi gathered any utensils she thought would be necessary, including a make-up bag. T.K. and Kari weren't sure what to do, as every base had been covered, so they just wandered and acted busy.

Then, Sora remembered something.

"Wait!" she called "the crests! I forgot, we gave up the power of the crests to heal the Digital World years ago. Do they still work?"

Everybody realised that they'd never tested them. Izzy look to Gennai for answers.

"Hm…" he said "it's true. When the power was used to heal DigiWorld, theoretically it would have rendered the crests useless. But you must remember; the crests were merely catalysts for your own powers, unless you've lost the power to love, Sora, you shouldn't need the crests. Although, I do suggest that you keep them on you, just in case."

Everybody looked at each other for a moment before smiling. They all had the crests for a reason, and it was time to show that it wasn't in vain.

With everything packed, Izzy typed in the final lines of code necessary to create a Digiport. Tai turned off all the electronics and plugged in Izzy's laptop. The last thing they needed was to fight tooth and nail beating the Dark Masters, only to find that they were stuck.

"Everybody ready?" Tai asked. Everyone nodded. "Then, we're off to the DigiWorld!"

"Yeah!"

Everyone took out their Digivices and held it out to the computer monitor. The screen began to shine and it soon illuminated into the room. The light absorbed them all and took them to the Digital World.

It is Time.

~\*/~

The beginning of a great adventure. Prepare to meet everyone and discover everything the Digital World has to offer. Don't miss out on the next episode of Digimon: Digital Monsters!

Ja Ne

Xxx


	2. Chapter 2

Wow. I had real plans for this and then I just gave up. Sorry. Well, here's chapter 2.

~\*/~

All 8 DigiDestined found themselves flying through an impossibly long tunnel of darkness ribboned by fluxes of the entire spectrum of colour. There was no real sense of direction; nobody could tell if they were travelling forward, downward, upward; it was all a straight line, but it was impossible to tell where they were truly headed until the bright, white light at the end of the tunnel appeared. They each in turn prepared themselves for the embarkment back into the Digital World. The light grew and brightened until it consumed them all.

The light passed with a large 'whoosh' as the winds flew around the group and the pressure changed. All were blinded for one mere second, but they could feel the earth beneath their feet coming to them. The sound of crunching earth and stumbling feet searching for grip and grounding rang in everyone's ears, but it soon became quiet. The lights dimmed in everyone's eyes and the surroundings became horrifyingly clear. What was witnessed was not the Digital World…

It was the very same forest that the first seven had arrived in, exactly on the cliff edge where they had narrowly escaped Kuwagamon. But, everything was wrong; the forest had been scorched and the charcoal remains were merely grey-black stumps and points that were no taller than T.K. or Mimi, the sky was consumed by similarly coloured clouds without even a hint of blue or white, the greens of the grass had turned to discoloured dust and the river that had run below the cliff edge was merely a few still, randomly placed puddles that reflected the deathly dark skies.

Everyone stared around at what was left of the forest with horrified expressions; it was as if there had only recently been a fire rampaging through the area, but had simply up and vanished upon their arrival.

"What?" Tai gawked at the destruction around them "What the hell is this? What the hell is this!"

"Tai…" Matt whispered, "there's no point getting angry, we need to-"

"No point getting angry?" Tai switched back with fire in his eyes "Look around, Matt? What is there to not be angry about? How are you not pissed off to hell, right now?"

"Matt's right, Tai," Sora pitched in, "what we need to do is find out who did this. Gennai said that the Dark Masters were behind this. Remember last time? When we defeat the Dark Masters the Digital World will rewrite itself and everything will return to normal."

Tai continued staring at his friends with wide eyes full of fury and a tense body. After a moment, he relaxed his shoulders and his eyelids fell ever so slightly, but he wasn't calm. He simply turned back around and stared out onto the destruction before him.

"Um…" a voice trailed forward.

Everybody quickly turned to the back and noticed T.K. nibbling on the skin at the very edge of his thumbnail, a nervous habit that he'd been told to stop, but never had. Everyone was waiting for him to finish his sentence, but they were all scared by what he said next.

"I don't see Patamon anywhere…" he pointed out.

That's when they all suddenly realised that, despite the message they'd all gotten from Gennai and their Digimon, none of their partners were actually present at the site of the burnt forest. Suddenly, that was the main priority; they each became highly concerned with their respective Digimon partners. They all began calling the names of their partners, worry and panic flowing into their words.

The pack began to fan out in search of their friends. That was until another voice drew back their attention.

"Wait!" Izzy called, "this is stupid. There's every possibility that our Digimon aren't in the immediate vicinity. If so, disbanding the group in search of our own respective partners can only lead to our individual destructions. What we need to do is gather our mental prowess and devise a plan on how to most efficiently find our partners, otherwise we're just inviting unnecessary danger."

Everyone looked at Izzy, taking in his words. They all realised that he was right and that they should gather their thoughts before doing anything else.

"Now," Izzy continued, "as far as I can tell, it's probably nearing night-time here. I know it's near impossible to be certain, but that's my best estimate. If it's going to be dark soon, we'd best set up some kind of camp before too long. As you are the strongest, I suggest Tai and Matt go out and get wood and lots of it. We're going to need shelters, so how about Sora, Mimi and Kari gather whatever they can find that will help with that, if you don't know what to get I'll help you. Water, I'm going to ask Joe and T.K. to go together [that's not a pair we usually see together, it might be interesting] and I'll see what I can discover in terms of our next move and try and decipher what clues I can find about the Dark Masters' plans. Questions?"

The other seven members of the group looked at the genius amongst them with surprise. It was rare that Izzy ever spoke up the way he did just then; he had never before drawn up the confidence to suddenly take charge, instead always waiting for Tai to inevitably call upon him before doing so. However, nobody was going to argue with this new power, so everyone simply gathered into the groups to which they had been assigned, constantly wearing surprised eyes and impressed smirks on their faces, and went about their allocated tasks. Assuming the cliff pointed south over the dried-up river below; Tai and Matt headed dead North to gather wood, the girls went North North West, Joe and T.K. found a pathway down to the river towards the East, one that they had previously not noticed when they had first arrived in the Digital World. Izzy remained to speak to Mimi, so he could further explain in detail what she was looking for.

[Izzy]

After sending Mimi off with the other girls to gather supplies, Izzy walked over to a medium-sized boulder near the cliff edge. He sat himself down and sighed heavily. He really wasn't used to taking control as he had, in fact the very experience had left him with a growing headache; a dull pain was throbbing on the left side of his head and he was forcing himself to take deeper breaths in order to release the pain. However, accompanying this new throbbing, in the back of Izzy's mind he also felt a…tugging? Something that made him turn his head around to the South side of the rock. Izzy looked around and down, noticing a golden shard protruding from underneath the rock he was sitting on. Izzy felt a sudden, raging desire to drag out the small, golden article. He quickly sprang up from his seat and walked around the rock. He then bent down again to get a better look, but it seemed to be very well wedged underneath. Izzy looked at it for a moment before following a simple instinct. He used his right hand to hold onto the shard and his left hand to pick up the rock. Amazingly, it worked just as one would expect with no sudden booby traps or impending explosions. Izzy just lifted up the rock and took out the thing. Upon revision, Izzy looked down at what he'd retrieved and quickly discovered that it was a small mirror with a golden rim and one gold handle. Izzy looked the mirror over, studying it with a precise intrigument that hadn't overcome him since the American Professor had come to talk about Artificial Intelligence and had gone on that tangent about the Roswell Incident. The Professor had claimed that 'Roswell' was nothing more than a Government hoax, a revelation that Izzy couldn't stop himself arguing against. But I digress. Izzy was still looking the mirror over, he finally flipped the entire thing over to reveal a very large, dark blue rhinoceros beetle grasping onto the mirror back. Izzy, despite not taking a great liking to insects, found himself captivated by the creature before him.

Until it fired lightning at him!

Izzy rapidly dodged a quick, yellow lightning bolt and watched as it fired straight past his face, only narrowly missing his cheek. Upon instinct, Izzy threw the mirror away and it flew over the cliff, but the beetle, as if to mock Izzy, released a pair of rapid-fire insect wings and simply hovered in mid-air where the mirror had passed. The beetle simply hovered where it was, staring at Izzy and forcing Izzy to stare back.

Izzy stared and his eyes widened again as he saw electrical charges begin to leak around the air. Izzy began to step back slowly, but the beetle simply approached him through the air, all the while with electricity leaking out from its horn.

'Shock.'

Izzy heard a voice inside his head. He was surprised to hear it and almost forgot about the beetle.

'Shock it.'

Izzy's eyes widened further as he began to recognise the voice. Slightly robotic, but full of care.

Tentomon.

'Shock it!'

Izzy focused on the words Tentomon was saying, when suddenly-

_Disturbing the Beetle during its Pupal stage is known to cause deformations in the Beetle's physiology and possibly cause the beetle to die of shock. Touching the Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle too suddenly, even after it has metamorphosed, may also cause the beetle to die of shock._

Izzy was at a loss of words as he tried to relocate where in his mind he suddenly came out with that passage of information. However, he didn't have the time as he noticed the beetle quicken its approach. Izzy jumped back in order to recreate the initial space between them. Izzy decided to follow his own advice and pick up a tiny pebble from the ground. Izzy had to look down to find the pebble, but as soon as he looked up he was confused again. The beetle was where it should've been, but there was suddenly a kind of Guidance System, indicating where Izzy should throw the pebble and simulating how hard to throw the pebble in order to get the correct trajectory in order to hit the beetle. Without fully understanding, Izzy's body knew what to do and he simply flicked the pebble out and down into the ground, the pebble hit another pebble that had been embedded in the earth, the impact causing the first pebble to flick upwards and strike the beetle dead in the stomach. The force of the pebble span the beetle around and Izzy watched the beetle swim downwards through the air until it fell onto the ground.

Izzy watched the motionless beetle on the ground with wide eyes, a combination of fear and shock. With new information simply popping into his head and a Personal Guidance System that could potentially rival Government methods of aiming. But, despite all these new powers, Izzy could only stare.

~\*/~

Well, that went somewhere I did not expect. I guess these things are happening. Oh, something that should happen, reviews. I love them and when you post them, you are a positive force in the world. So, you think about that Mr/Ms Good Person.

Blessed Be.

Xx


	3. Chapter 3

Actually, I think this is going rather well. Please enjoy and, if you do enjoy, review because that really helps me write. So, yes, lovely, reviews = chapters = satisfaction.

~\*/~

[Tai & Matt]

Tai and Matt headed out North from the cliff edge into the dense, green forest. They looked around for suitable wood, but, whilst they were 'looking', they mostly just walked around with their hands in their pockets. They had, for the last few minutes, been making small, idle chitchat without much thought.

"So…" Tai muttered after their most recent topic had come to an abrupt ending "you and Sora?"

Matt stopped walking and a tired, half-expectant smirk crossed his face. Tai looked at him with a slightly apologetic look, but he didn't retract his question, curious.

"Well," Matt started, leaning against a tree trunk "there was a thing and then there was another thing and her mother didn't like me and my dad didn't like her and T.K. was useless and then she broke my guitar string and I lost her lipstick."

"Why did you have her lipstick?"

"Halloween,"

"I'm going to have to believe that, even though I'm not entirely sure I do," Tai stated blatantly.

"I'm willing to accept that," Matt returned before returning to his vague explanation "and then there must've been a million and one fights about the most pointless stuff, like how I'm messy and she's naggy and you and me and my band and everything else, so, in the end, we just decided it would be better if we didn't see each other."

"Oh OK…" Tai responded, sounding confused as he pondered everything Matt said, but he snapped his head up when something caught his attention "wait, what did she mean 'you and me'?"

"It's nothing!" Matt exclaimed, attempting to keep a straight face "it's just that she kept on bringing up the time when we were going up against VenomMyotismon and you held my hand-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tai interrupted, "I held whose hand? I believe you held my hand because you were, and I quote, 'scared'."

"No, you held my hand, I mean, out of the two us you are the most likely to want to hold someone's hand."

"Um, no, Crest of Courage here, I don't need to hold someone's hand. You're the Crest of Friendship; naturally you'd want some contact or something. You asked to hold my hand."

"Well, I think you're wrong!"

"Well you study science, you should know that it doesn't matter what you think; the fact is you wanted to hold my hand!"

"Do you wanna start something here? Is this gonna be a fight?"

"Well it might be, but don't worry, if you get scared you can hold my hand," Tai taunted by gesturing his hand slightly camply.

"Y'know what? There's only one way to settle this," Matt leered, Tai was silent in anticipation until Matt extended his hand "hold my hand."

Tai was silent as he stared at his best friend for a moment.

"So, you admit you asked to hold my hand?" Tai queried confused. Matt shook his head.

"It's something I heard; the way you hold someone's hand shows the relationship. Depending on how you hold my hand will decide who's dominant and who's submissive in the relationship and the submissive one will be forever be known as the one who asked to hold the other's hand." Matt explained, but Tai didn't look impressed.

"So," Tai hesitated, "you're going to try and disprove that you asked to hold my hand by asking to hold my hand?"

"Yes, now shut up and do it," Matt said without even blinking.

Tai stared at the blonde for a short moment, but he soon sighed as he allowed himself to relent. He took a step closer to Matt and raised his hand until it was a breadth away from Matt's.

"On 3," Matt stated, "1, 2…3."

On the signal, they both latched onto each other, entwining their fingers with one another's. Once their hands were locked in, Matt lifted their hands up to eye-level and looked at the positions of their fingers. He looked at each digit for a small second before moving onto the next until he came to Tai's thumb, resting upon his own. At the final digit, Matt stopped, but he didn't reveal the answer whilst Tai looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" Tai asked impatiently.

Matt still didn't reply as he stared at their hands locked together. It was clear that Matt wasn't happy with the result and Tai could see it in his best friend's face and he began to grin. His chest began to heave quickly as he attempted to supress the laughter as he gleaned the answer from Matt's overly expressive face. Matt looked into Tai's toothy face and he began to pout like a child when he loses a board game. However, Matt didn't react like most children would. As fast as a speeding bullet Matt leaned forward to get right in Tai's face, he moved so quickly Tai didn't even have time to stop grinning like the Cheshire Cat when Matt pressed his lips to Tai's. But Tai soon grasped the concept of what was happening, his smile dropped, but before he could think to open his mouth to respond he could only use his eyes to follow the blonde-topped blur running further into the forest; there were no defining features just a colour-layered smudge disappearing into the forest.

"What the-?" Tai murmured.

His jaw had dropped far down at the shock of what had just transpired. His wide eyes looked around for something to hold on to, but instead of resting his body against a tree, he decided to lightly use his fist to punch the tree. He didn't punch hard, but the tree didn't understand that as it snapped in half where Tai's fists tapped it. The tree trunk, one of the few that had managed to stay completely in tact, fell to the ground with the greatest thud Tai had ever heard. Tai was now staring at the destroyed tree that had fallen simply by his act of tapping it. His jaw dropped further, if that was at all possible and he could not help but ask himself the question once more.

"What the-?" Tai couldn't even get the whole question out, but it was less than a polite phrase.

~\*/~

Matt couldn't stop himself from running and he couldn't control how fast he was going, but he wasn't exactly complaining. If it meant getting away from Tai after that, well, let it be.

Of course, it only took a moment for Matt to realise that he didn't actually know where he was going, he was moving to fast to gather his bearing and he didn't know how to get back to the cliff. The other problem was that he couldn't seem to stop his legs from moving and, whilst that might be fine for some situations, it seemed that there was a different cliff edge getting closer very quickly. Not that Matt could react fast enough before he was already in mid-air.

Then, gravity took effect, Matt had finally stopped moving his legs, but now he was heading straight down. He began to scream at the top of his lungs as he plummeted further down, staring into the empty ravine in which a river used to flow. Matt shut his eyes as he waited for the crash into the earth and then the wait was over as he made contact.

What was confusing was how he seemed to sink into the earth, how cold and wet it was. Matt opened his eyes, but had to close them again when he was exposed to so much blue.

'Blue?' Matt thought to himself, but then he realised 'water!'

Matt flicked his head upwards and he frantically began to swim until he burst through the surface, flicking his hair like a fabulous hair advert as he did so. He looked around him and quickly spotted his little brother and Joe standing at the river's edge staring at him blankly with rising chests like they were scared. Of course, you would be too if a man had just fallen from the sky into a mysteriously appearing river of pure water and then did the single best hair flick you'd ever seen.

Matt smiled and waved slightly nervously at the two of them.

"Hi guys!"

~\*/~

Well, you don't see that every day. I'm not sure why I did that actually, but I'm happy with it. R&R like the beautiful people I know you are. Thank you.

Blessed Be

Xx


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